Salem Junction, Israel ? Israeli bulldozers flattened ground Sunday for an electronic fence that is planned to eventually run the entire length of the West Bank a disputed project aimed at protecting Israelis from Palestinian suicide bombers.

Those backing the barrier say it does not, in any way, stake out a final border between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Also Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rejected the idea of provisional Palestinian statehood that was aired by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and said to be under consideration by the Bush administration. Palestinians also are cool to the idea for different reasons.

Palestinian and right-wing Israeli politicians strongly oppose the fence, meant to replace a hodgepodge of barriers erected during the past year, which have proved ineffectual.

The first length of fence will be built over eight months along 75 miles from Salem Junction in northern Israel south to a point northeast of Tel Aviv.

Palestinians maintain the fence will take West Bank land they want for a state. Right-wing Israelis fear that what is being billed as a temporary “security fence” will evolve into a permanent border with a future Palestinian state. If that happened, many of the 200,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank would be left on the Palestinian side.

Bush, who is expected to address how to advance Mideast peace this week, has not announced whether provisional Palestinian statehood is an idea he intends to push. In Washington, a Bush administration official said Sunday on condition of anonymity that the president was still considering whether to do so.

Also Sunday, Hamas claimed responsibility for a Saturday night firefight that left two Israelis and one Palestinian dead in the Gaza Strip.